750 Volunteers Work To Make Downtown Cleaner And Greener

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Saturday marked the third year that Clean and Green has occurred in Downtown Chattanooga. A River City Company program, Clean and Green is an organized downtown cleanup where businesses, civic groups and individuals roll up their sleeves and make a collective difference.

Through beautification activities like litter pick up and graffiti removal along with tackling specific community projects such as the planting of a community garden at the 21st Century Child Development and Learning Center, 750 volunteers made a noticeable impact on downtown, officials said.

The following are the included districts, downtown neighborhoods and gateway neighborhoods for Clean and Green: City Center, Riverfront, Southside, MLK/UTC, Northshore, Fort Wood, Glass Farms, Glenwood, Highland Park, Hill City, North Creek and Orchard Knob.

Along with sponsor Volkswagen Chattanooga and partners Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, Causeway.org and LifeKraze, 1,500 bags of trash were collected along with graffiti being removed from 20 buildings and monuments. For all their work, volunteers were treated to breakfast sponsored by the Chattanooga Kiwanis Club and freebies like T-shirts and water bottles. All trash bags were collected and disposed of by ServPro.

Director of Creative Strategies for River City Company, Tiffanie Robinson asserts that “Clean and Green has always been a successful program, but this year we’ve had an outstanding volunteer turn out. This program not only improves everyone’s quality of life but also builds pride in the volunteers for their downtown.”

Partnering with River City Company, CNE’s Partnership and Program Coordinator Jen Politano states, “Our downtown and gateway neighborhoods are critical areas for the sustainability of Chattanooga. Clean and Green lends the opportunity for residents and others to make our communities more beautiful and welcoming.”

Natalie Roy, a Clean and Green volunteer from a combined group that represented the Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga and the UTC GOLD Council, describes her volunteer experience, “With 20 people representing the Young Professionals Association of Chattanooga and the UTC Gold Council, we focused on a community garden at the 21st Century Learning and development Center. It was great to build some comradery and make our beautiful city even better."

After the cleanup, volunteers were invited to an after party at The Camp House sponsored by Chattanooga Whiskey.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Knoxville attorney Shelby Ward, on behalf of Heartwood and Tennessee Heartwood, jointly filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday, alleging that the Forest Service is illegally endangering the soil, forests, and waters of the Cherokee National Forest and hiding those risks from the ... (click for more)

The Str8 Shooters Clay Team started their season by participating in the TNSCTP Iron Man Competition in Nashville this past weekend. The Iron Man Competition focuses on testing their skills in skeet, sporting clays and trap against those in different age brackets and skill levels. Those from the team choosing to participate consisted of the Red Team which were Blythe Booker, ... (click for more)

Volkswagen officials announced Monday that they will build a new five-passenger SUV at the Chattanooga plant at the Enterprise South Industrial Park. Governor Bill Haslam was among those on hand for the announcement. It will be a variant of the seven-passenger Atlas that is already under production here. Like the Atlas, the new model will be designed and engineered for ... (click for more)

A Weather Channel correspondent hunkered down in Chattanooga on Monday night as a fierce storm approached. A Weather Channel anchor termed it "a rough night in the Scenic City," but the main area of damage kept to the southwest.. Reynolds Wolf said he, along with his cameraman and producer, were ready to take shelter in their nearby hotel should the storm become dangerous. ... (click for more)

It is always disappointing when any business is forced to close because of competition. Big box stores do this to smaller retailers every day. And while Toys-R-Us seemed to be an unstoppable force, they have finally succumbed to online ordering and simplicity. But if you think about it, when Toys-R-Us came into existence, imagine the number of “mom ‘n pop” toy stores that ... (click for more)

Not a one of you has ever heard of a lady named Megan Jones Bell. But, because our state legislature is determined to allow California’s unique brand of crazies to pull Tennessee down to its loathsome level, our state lawmakers probably never will. Megan is a paragon in the field of mental health strategy – i.e., ‘What's the smartest thing for state government to do right ... (click for more)